1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer aided vehicle design and, more specifically, to a method and system of paint spray particle trajectory analysis for computer aided vehicle design.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are numerous computer related tools which can facilitate the design and testing of vehicles such as motor vehicles, including generalized software programs such as computer aided engineering (CAE), computer aided design (CAD), and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). These tools are typically used to investigate many issues related to vehicle design, including vehicle durability, vehicle performance, and vehicle aerodynamics. Heretofore, limitations on computer speed and algorithm accuracy have inhibited the development of a particle trajectory analysis tool in which several exterior aerodynamic design issues can be studied.
Paint application operations amount to a significant fraction of the total manufacturing cost of new vehicles. Improvements in the painting process can wsnot only reduce the manufacturing cost but improve appearance and durability, which directly influences customer satisfaction, and warranty costs. One metric for improvements in the painting process is the Paint Transfer Efficiency (PTE) which is a measure of how well paint is transferred from a bell applicator of a paint spray gun to a body of the vehicle. Increases in PTE effect paint quality and costs while simultaneously reducing paint waste and emissions. With demands to reduce vehicle costs and emissions, new technologies are being developed to determine bell applicator and paintbooth designs. Computation Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is one technology that can aid in quickly determining PTEs under various operating conditions (e.g. shaping air velocity, bell angular velocity and fluid flow, and paintbooth downdraft velocity).
With the advent of new and improved CFD technology, an accurate external flow field can now be calculated, thus making a particle trajectory analysis tool technically possible. As a result, it is desirable to provide a system and method for paint spray trajectory analysis to aid in vehicle design. It is also desirable to have a process to improve paint transfer efficiency for bell sprayers of paint spray guns. It is further desirable to provide a process that will determine particle trajectories of paint particles under the influence of drag, gravity and electrostatic potential.